In this little package of sticky child-like goodness, Judy MacDonald’s sharp, descriptive, summer-filled prose fits perfectly with the sad little pen and ink sketches done by Lisa Smolkin. TR&RBC is a rare gem. A piece of illustrated fiction about Jerome the giraffe’s life in the zoo that’s filled with all the amazement and quick analyses that can only come from an uninhibited and wonder-struck mind. Judy crafts deliciously abrupt sentences like: “I could see no corners made from concrete. The water and the blue were behind fences. I saw the blue chipped in many places. I saw sad little monkeys hectored by people(…)” Each artist does not contribute half of the whole, they each created separate works which, when placed side-by-side on the page, become inextricably tangled together. This causes the reader to be sucked into a universe that was crafted by Judy’s words and then honed to perfect clarity by Lisa’s drawings. This piece of Judy’s was originally published in Canadian Forum, and was illustrated by Lisa. The drawings that made it into the zine edition, however, are all the ones that were rejected by CF the first time ’round. (EPW)
art zine, $5, Lisa Smolkin and Judy MacDonald, Toronto, [email protected]